LETTERS
by taiyou-no-tsuki
Summary: A lost and found notebook with the handwritings of two people.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: I obviously do not own slamdunk, or else I wouldn't be writing this.

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LETTERS

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I've always used a pen, because with ink, you can't erase a single word you've written. You can try to cover it up, white it out, tear it to pieces, but the silhouette of prints will still cling to the paper, staining the white pages as a reminder of every thought that's ever crossed your head. 

This was one of those moments where I wished I had used lead. Because then I would, could take back everything that happened, erase it, only to be left with scars of indentations tainted in gray coals of shadows.

I never thought of why I started to write. Or how I left my notebook that day. I only worried about who would find it, and if he would actually turn a page to read.

I realized I was wrong. You can erase ink. Just burn the pages and it'll break itself into airy petals of dust, all in the same color there's no front or back.

I wish I had a lighter back then.

Then all of this would just be a blank page and we wouldn't have to meet.

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Notes: 

I decided to take out "The Missing Piece" because I felt that it only had one interesting idea behind it, and so I decided to take the main inspiration of that story, and mold it into an entirely different one. If you know "The Missing Piece" then you already know who it is.


	2. Chapter 2

** Disclaimer:** I obviously do not own slamdunk, or else I wouldn't be writing this. It's just the way it is, and I accept it.

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**LETTERS**

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I thought I could never sleep. I thought anxiety would take over night and turn it to morning. And yet it came: a slow drift of drooping eyelids dragging me deep under, and shut.

The risen sun marked the beginning of a new chase: for a name.

He was standing there, waiting for me to come. But he didn't know who I was. He was holding what I was eyeing, but he didn't turn to face me. He walked as if he owned it, but it was never his to begin with.

It was only then did I realize that somebody else was following. "You never told me he was your type." A rush of playful tune trickled to the surface.

"Who?" I asked; unaware of a stream of suspicions brimming within their glistening eyes.

"Koshino. Duh." The name sank slowly against a wave of confusion. "Correct me if I'm wrong, which I can't be, but you were clearly staring at him." I was washed overboard with a flood of teasing. I was just about to come up for air when the bell rang and I was caught breathless.

I had to get back my notebook. But as I turned around the corner, my half-hearted resolution was drowned in reluctance. Koshino stood leaning against a wall, like a mermaid luring me to the rocks, his right hand holding my notebook open, his eyes moving across the page, suddenly stopping to look up.

"Is there something wrong?" He asked; yet that pretentious look of innocence lurking beneath those eyes was only pushing his luck. He knew that I knew that he knew something, and yet all we did was play the waiting game to see who would crack – first.

"Nothing." I replied. I would play by the rules: and wait. What was written on that page was blotched in ink, a smear of shame hidden under the palm of my hands. And I was afraid to show it.

But I'm not the only one who has secrets.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Slamdunk, or else I wouldn't be writing this.**

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**LETTERS**

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I've been called many names before, but never a stalker. I guess there's a first time for everything.

"You always look at him from a distance." I had been renamed a paparazzi because of this. Now I just need a camera – with extendable lens.

"He'll never know how you feel if you just look." I guess they wanted me to play a new game: the matchmaking game.

I never seem to run out of games. I was already playing hide-and-go-seek with Koshino. Without knowing it, I was raising the white flag.

I found Koshino sitting under a tree, and as the leaves shyly mimicked a shadow dance on his skin, the pen he was holding was scribbling along unwritten lines.

I stood in front of him, and as a gentle breeze blew, the strands of my hair caught itself in a tangle, like the way I fiddle with my fingers behind my back.

"It-" was cut off.

"It seems we have an audience." And just like actors called onto stage, there were lines to be memorized and dances to be choreographed.

"So, if this story had a happy-ending, would you go out with me?" I had forgotten my lines.

"The script says: yes." He smiled; and as if the audience was satisfied, there was a standing-ovation while I wondered who was the scriptwriter.

He gave me a little pinch on the cheek to reassure me I wasn't dreaming before exiting the stage. I wish I had a backstage pass. I would use it to go and take a look inside his head.

Leaving the theatre, I found he had left me what I was searching. Resting atop my desk was my notebook. I opened it to the exact page where I had left a confession hanging.

"I didn't think I'd see him again. Back then we didn't know each other, but we had already met. I didn't mean to-"

Underneath a loose-ended string of words was a new line made up of messy handwriting.

"Is it me?"

Beside it, stood an imaginary punctuation mark.

:P

They say it's all fun and games. I guess it's time to start playing.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own slamdunk, or else I wouldn't be writing this.**

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** LETTERS  
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Maybe there was a time when we both rode the bus going to school. But because I didn't know you, I didn't see you. And because you didn't see me, you didn't remember. Because we didn't know each other, I passed you by and let you go. 

School became a rising and falling scene of onlookers. They pretended to look away as I walked on by, but as soon as I passed, they would quickly do a double take.

I guess a swarm of bees had already hovered from flower to flower. The 'news' had caught on. But they also stung.

"Didn't she steal her friend's boyfriend?" They buzzed.

"I heard she used him."

"I thought they were fighting over her."

"She dated him, to get closer to Sendoh." Their voices sweet as honey fluttered in the air.

"Hey." Koshino pulled me out of the hive. Behind him, the other players had already formed a beeline.

"Take it easy on her." Sendoh winked before turning about.

"Let's go." I couldn't say anything.

We sat under the shade of a tree, and from the corner of my eye, he was turning my bag inside out.

It didn't really occur to me until he had already stolen my lunch. I didn't mind.

He stuck out a piece of hotdog with squid-legs, moving it closer to me with an "aaaah". But 'he' ate it.

I wondered if he heard their whispering. I wondered if what they said hid a grain of truth. But I was in no place to ask. Not when a finger's pointed right back at me.

I heard his stomach grumble. He didn't finish everything.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own slamdunk, or else I wouldn't be writing this.**

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**LETTERS**

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"So, where's you're boyfriend?" A mocking voice from above asked.

"Hurry up, you don't wanna be like 'this' guy." Koshino cut in-between. I smiled. That's just how he's identified.

There was a duffle bag slung across his shoulders. They must've come back from a game.

There was a slight smile in his expression. They must've won.

I had to pay attention to details. He really didn't say much.

He led me into a park, and I heard the familiar ice cream bells jingling in the air.

"Go. I'll wait here." I tried not to giggle like a little kid. I secretly suppressed the urge to run.

"Excuse me, can I get – Uekusa?" I knew that sounded wrong. Switching to more important matters, Uekusa worked in an ice cream truck.

"Keep it down, not a lot of people know." I tried to appear apologetic, but my photographic memory had already captured the shot.

"I'm glad you and Koshino are together." He reached for a cone. "Especially after her." He began scooping up the different flavours.

"Huh?" was the only thing I said.

"You heard them right?" He grabbed another cone.

"Huh?" was the only thing I held.

"She dated Koshino, but was really after Sendoh." He coated them with sprinkles.

"Huh?" was the only thing I felt.

"Sendoh didn't really pay any attention to her, so she tried to pit the two up against each other. It didn't work though. Those two could finish each other's sentences." He handed over the sugarcoated dessert.

"Enough about that." He smiled. I looked at the extra, not to mention unpaid cone in my hand.

"Give that to Koshino. He might not admit it, but he has a sweet-tooth." I thanked him.

Koshino accepted it grudgingly, though he ate it painstakingly, down to the very last drop. He laid down to rest his head on my lap.

"Don't couples do this?" I knew that wasn't a question. 'Sweet-talk' was not part of his vocabulary. It wasn't even in his dictionary.

The silence grew in-between us, and somewhere between the closed eyes and the shallow breaths, he must've fallen asleep.

"Be careful, you might fall for me." With only one eye open, he still manages to throw together a couple of stuck-up remarks.

Without warning I stood up, and he in the correct order of things, fell. "Oh, did you fall for yourself?"

They say it's all fun and games. This is fun.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own slamdunk, or else I wouldn't be writing this.**

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**LETTERS**

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I stood in front of the gym, right hand on the door. Push rewind, and there was Koshino taking off with my cellphone, challenging me to a game of tag. 

I had barely gotten through the door before setting off the fire alarm. "Why're you here? Only players are allowed at this time." What a warm welcome.

"Let her stay." The automatic sprinkler rained down on the hothead.

"Don't mind him." Sendoh said. "He just doesn't want you here because it makes him nervous."

I could feel a stare boring holes through my back. But as soon as I turned around, there was no drill to be found.

"He keeps missing." Sendoh laughed.

Without warning, a basketball shot through the air. Sendoh caught onto the double meaning. "Get back to practice!" Koshino yelled, turning beet red. 'Somebody' was listening in.

Stoplight ahead. Green light: go.

"You don't mind me taking a break, do you?".

Yellow light: go faster.

"I mean, you're just 'seeing each other', right?"

Red light: 'go at your own risk'.

"Then, you don't mind me asking her out?"

Koshino dropped the basketball. It beat the ground with its fists until it stopped. Even then I could still hear it beating.

Sendoh looked to me. "This is your last chance to say something. Anything."

There were too many. And they all started with a 'bleep'.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **I obviously do not own Slamdunk, or else I wouldn't be writing this.

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**LETTERS**

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I was buried beneath sheets of cotton blankets. I thought the sun's rays wouldn't reach me. But it shone through the gaps between the threads and I dug myself out of sleep.

My hair was the perfect bird's nest as I tumbled downstairs to eat. It was the start of another morning: brewed coffee, head in newspaper, toast popping, spiky hair, coffee stain, crunched headlines, burnt toast, spiky hair – wait a minute, back up.

Suitcase in hand, kiss on the cheek and bye, giggles, blushes, heart-eyes, flirting – what? "Who let 'you' in?" My ears tuned in to the suspect.

"Can you believe it? Sendoh's actually right here!" A high-pitched tone giggled, again. My sister was a fan. Addict. Fan-atic. That.

"You let him in?" the eye twitching had begun.

There was a nervous laugh from, "Mom? _You_ let him in?"

"I'm sorry, I mean, look at him," Was her confession and, defense.

"Ready for our date?" He said, waking me up.

"What date?" was the resounding chorus. One shocked mouth-open-cover-with-hand look, one shocked eyes-wide-slight-gasp-for-breath look, and one shocked unibrow-almost-forming-wrinkles-before-forty look.

"Why are you following me?" I said in between breaths. It was like I was walking on a tightrope between walking and running. Yet no matter how indistinguishable my feet were from left or right, Sendoh took his time, as if this was a walk on the beach in the moonlight.

"What do you mean? We go to the same school." He had a leisurely drawl to his voice as if this was so easy he could sleep. And while I was busy thinking he disappeared, reappearing only to overtake my lead. "Why can't you just talk to him?" his voice lowered, "Why don't you just tell him?"

"Tell him what?" I pushed on like a drunk who could no longer walk. I wobbled from side to side when I bumped into a bright light. "Sorry!" I gasped, bowing my head. As I lowered my face, a trace of her memory blinded my conscience.

"Sorry." Her voice was on edge, as if I had almost pushed her over the cliff. It was only when she left that I could lift my head.

"Hanako." I could only say her name as a voice from the past. There were still people who remembered, and they stood, as if no time had passed.

"All this time, I tried so hard, and something like this, like this and they're back to staring again." They reached, grabbed, and pulled me back down just as I was climbing up.

"Koshino wouldn't mind. If it was Koshino, he'd probably stare them back." A smile broke through my lips. He probably would.

Sendoh gave me a pat before he withdrew himself from the race. "You two are such cowards that I have to keep on pushing till you fall."

What if I'm afraid of heights?


End file.
